10 Biggest, Largest Waterfalls In The World
1. Chutes de Khone
Chutes de Khone – also known at Khone Falls – is the largest
waterfall in the world. At 35,376 feet wide, it’s almost twice the width of it
next largest competitor. The falls are part of the Mekong river in Laos, and
occur where the river splits into seven large channels and many more smaller
ones. It’s made up of several different rapids and falls, cascading down 69
feet. The most defined part of the waterfall is a 45-foot drop, at a 60 degree
angle.
2. Salto Para
Salto Para, or Para Falls, is an 18,400-foot wide waterfall
on the Rio Caura in the Bolivar region of Venezuela. These half-moon shaped
falls are formed where two parts of the river come together and drop down
almost 200 feet, each side of a lush, green jungle island.
3. Chutes Kongou
Also known as Kongou Falls, Chutes Kongou measures 10,500
feet wide, making it the world’s third largest existing waterfall. It’s part of
the Ivindo River in Gabon, and is roughly 185 feet tall. Amongst the most
powerful waterfalls in the world, roughly 31,800 cubic feet of water flow down
it each second. These falls are truly a sight to behold, nestled amongst dense,
equatorial rainforests. Kongou Falls is located within the Ivindo National
Park, which was set up to protect the biodiversity of the Ivindo River.
4. Cataratas del Iguazo
South America’s Cataratas del Iguazo is also known as Iguazo
Falls. Part of the Rio Iguazo, the falls straddle the border between Argentina
and Brazil. This 8,800-foot wide waterfall drops rough 269 feet. Most of the
river fall down into an area known as Garganta del Diablo, or The Devil’s
Throat, but the rest spreads out over a wide, flat shelf, splitting into
hundreds of individual falls. This waterfall can vary greatly in volume,
depending on how much rain has fallen. At times it shrinks down to a fraction
of its usual size, but at other times it will spread to up to 9,500 feet wide.
5. Saltos del Mocono
Saltos del Mocono is part of the River Uruguay in Argentina.
It’s amongst the most unique of all large-river waterfalls, as it drops down a
6,000-foot trough that has been carved lengthways into a basaltic formation.
This makes it almost a full 180 degree semi-circle of waterfall. This
6,775-foot wide waterfall drops down roughly 35 feet. Although the majority of
the waterfall is in Argentina, some actually lies in Brazil, which is where
most of the best viewpoint for the falls are.
6. Vermilion Falls
Although Vermilion Falls does not drop from an impressive
height, falling only 15 to 20 feet, it is the sixth biggest waterfall in the
world, in terms of width, as it spans 6,000 feet across. It’s located along
Peace River, in Northern Alberta, Canada, which is an otherwise still and, as
the name suggests, peaceful river. It’s likely that the rural nature of its
location has stopped it from becoming too well known or much of a tourist
attraction. However, if you can make it out there, it’s an impressive sight to
behold.
7. Victoria Falls
Victoria Falls is a 5,600-foot wide waterfall located on
Zambezi River in Zimbabwe. The river falls roughly 344 feet into a gorge made
up of lateral volcanic dikes, which were formed as the river eroded the rock
and soil of its bed.
As the water falls
into the gorge, mist and spray rises up, more than 100 feet higher than the top
of the falls, giving the appearance that smoke is rising out of a deep hole in
the earth. This is where it gets its traditional name, Mosi-oa-Tunya, which
translates to “the smoke that thunders.” The river is divided into four
segments by two islands, resulting in four distinct falls, each of which has
its own name: Devils Cataract, Main Falls, Rainbow Falls and Eastern Cataract.
8. Chutes Wagenia
Chutes Wagenia is more commonly known as Kisangani Falls or
Stanley Falls, the former of which is accurate, but less often used, and the
latter of which stems from British colonial times, and is inaccurate but has
been proliferated. It stretches 4,500 feet, across the whole of the width of
the Lualaba River, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Despite its width,
it’s not an extremely visually impressive waterfall, only dropping 30 feet in
total, with the highest single fall dropping just 15 feet.
9. Niagara Falls
Despite being relatively low on the list of the world’s
largest falls, Niagara Falls is undoubtedly the best known waterfall on the
planet. It receives somewhere between 14 and 20 million visitors annually and
has been the location for many foolhardy and daring feats, such as that
performed by Annie Edson Taylor, who was the first person to survive a trip
over the Niagara Falls in a barrel.
At 3,950 feet wide,
it’s far from the largest waterfall around, but it is the falls with the
largest volume of water traveling through it. It has three separate parts:
American Falls, Bridal Veil Falls and Horseshoe, or Canadian, Falls.
10. Inga Falls
Inga Falls, a 3,000-foot wide waterfall, is located on the Congo River, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It’s a series of falls and rapids, which drops around 315 feet, but very gradually over a run of roughly 9 miles. However, the main, and most impressive, part of the falls drops around 70 feet in one go. There are hundreds of channels in these falls, separated out by a multitude of large rocks and small islands.
